The garden was vast, endless in a way that felt unnatural. The sky above was frozen in twilight, neither day nor night, and the air smelled of damp earth and blooming flowers that never wilted.

Lullaby took a step forward, her boots sinking slightly into the grass. “So… you’ve been here how long?” she asked, glancing up at MU.

MU, who was always just a little taller, stuffed their hands into their pockets and gave a crooked smile. “Long enough to stop counting,” they itted, eyes flicking toward the towering walls of thick vines and thorn-covered branches. “No way out, no doors, no nothing. Just me and the flowers.”

Lullaby frowned beneath her veil, adjusting it slightly. “That can’t be true. Everything has an exit.”

“I used to think that too,” MU said with a sigh. They plucked a small, glowing petal from a nearby bush and twirled it between their fingers. “Then I stopped hoping.”

Lullaby clenched her fists. That kind of thinking—it hurt to hear. No one should be trapped like this. She had spent so long running from her own insecurities, trying to carve her own space in the multiverse, but at least she was free. MU? MU had never even been given a chance.

“Well, I’m here now,” she said firmly. “And I don’t give up easy.”

MU blinked, surprised, then let out a small laugh. “That so?”

“Mm-hm.” Lullaby crossed her arms. “If there’s no way out, we’ll make one.”

And so they tried.

Days blurred together as they searched. MU showed her everything they had learned—every dead end, every strange occurrence, every hidden corner of the garden. Lullaby, in turn, used every trick she knew. She sketched maps, brewed potions, even sang to the air itself, hoping her voice might shake something loose in this dreamlike cage.

Slowly, a bond formed between them.

MU, with all their energy and hidden fears, made her laugh in ways she hadn’t in a long time. And Lullaby, despite all her doubts about herself, felt needed in a way she never had before.

“Y’know,” MU said one evening, sitting with her beneath a tree, “if we never find a way out… I don’t think I’d mind, as long as you’re here.”

Lullaby’s heart twisted. “Don’t say that,” she murmured.

“Why not? It’s true.”

“Because we’re getting out,” she insisted. “And when we do, I wanna show you everything. All the universes, all the stars—everything you’ve never seen.”

MU smiled, softer this time. “…That sounds nice.”

And then, one day, they did it.

A crack in the illusion. A weak spot in the vines. Lullaby’s magic hummed through her fingertips as she wove the final note of her lullaby, breaking the spell that had kept MU imprisoned for so long. The garden shuddered, its false sky trembling as light poured through the opening.

MU grabbed her hand. “Come on!”

They ran.

But freedom was not what waited on the other side.

The world beyond was dark. A clearing, a ruined space between realities where the air felt heavy with something cruel.

Lullaby barely had time to breathe before she saw him.

MU’s brother.

He stood there, waiting. His presence was suffocating, his eyes cold and gleaming with something sinister.

“Well, well,” he mused, his voice like silk wrapped around a dagger. “I was wondering how long it would take you.”

MU’s grip on Lullaby’s hand tightened.

“Stay behind me,” she whispered.

But before either of them could move—before Lullaby could summon her magic, before MU could react—the air cracked. A flash of steel.

A sharp, gasping breath.

Lullaby turned just in time to see MU stumble.

Their hands slipped apart.

The world slowed as MU fell to the ground, blood pooling beneath them like spilled ink.

“M-MU?” Lullaby dropped to her knees, cradling them. They trembled in her arms, their expression caught between shock and pain.

“L-Lubie,” MU whispered, their fingers barely brushing her veil. “S-Sorry—”

“Don’t,” she choked out. “Don’t you dare apologize—”

But MU was already fading. Their form flickered, breaking apart like mist, like a dream being pulled away by the morning light.

Lullaby could only watch as their fingers slipped through hers, as their presence—warm and real and so full of life—vanished.

And then, there was nothing.

Just silence.

Her hands trembled. The weight of it pressed down on her chest, crushing, suffocating.

Gone.

MU was gone.

Her breath came in shallow gasps, her vision blurring. And then—

Then she looked up.

MU’s brother stood there, smug, victorious. He had turned away already, as if this had meant nothing.

Something in Lullaby snapped.

A sound escaped her—a hollow, broken thing. And then, soft as a whisper, she began to hum.

The melody started quiet, delicate, almost mournful.

Her voice carried through the stillness, curling through the air like smoke.

MU’s brother stiffened.

He turned back toward her, confusion flickering across his face—just before his body lurched.

His eyelids fluttered. His stance wavered. His breath hitched as the lullaby wrapped around him, pulling him down into a darkness he could not escape.

Lullaby rose slowly to her feet, her song never faltering.

He staggered. His limbs grew heavy. His mind slipped.

And then—he fell.

Collapsed into sleep.

A cruel, endless sleep.

Lullaby stepped forward, her voice softer now, weaving the dream around him like a web.

And then—she followed.

Inside his dream, the sky bled red.

Shadows stretched unnaturally, twisting, writhing. Lullaby stood at the center of it all, waiting.

When MU’s brother appeared, his expression was twisted with rage. “What did you do—?!”

Lullaby tilted her head. Her veil shifted slightly as she smiled—a slow, eerie thing.

“You took something from me,” she murmured. “So now…”

The dream shuddered.

The world around them distorted. His footing wavered, his breath coming sharp and uneven.

“…I’m going to take everything from you.”

Her voice echoed, soft and haunting, as the nightmare closed in.

And this time—there was no waking up.

Outside, in the real world, Lullaby stood over his lifeless body.

She exhaled, slow and steady, adjusting her veil.

Then, with quiet steps, she turned away.

Her heart ached.

But she did not look back.

:notes: _____________________________________ :musical_note:

credits

written by Glitch_ soul

art by : MU.Lullaby

character/au/lore/story belong to :MU.Lullaby

Click to see lullaby wiki

:notes: _____________________________________ :musical_note: